1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of vehicle luggage or carrier storage racks especially for all terrain vehicles (ATVs), and more particularly to a carrier accessory that is adaptable to existing vehicle storage racks.
2. General Background
Recreational or all terrain vehicles (ATV""s) are becoming increasingly popular as a mode of transportation, particularly for various types of off-road activities. Typically, an ATV is equipped with a carrier or storage rack of some type, integrally mounted at the rear of the vehicle. The rack generally consists of a horizontally supporting area made up of a series of tubular steel members spaced in a manner that allows various items, such as tents, guns, containers and other such field equipment, to be attached thereto using cords and the like for lashing for removable attachment to the rack.
A number of specialty racks have been designed for transporting various types of equipment and or animals, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,016,943, 4,176,771, 4,247,030, 4,826,057, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 276,330, Des. 364,140 as well as add on accessory items such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,433,357 and 6,179,180.
Some such designs are applicable only to three-wheel vehicles, while others may be used for four-wheel ATV""s. In most case these racks are mountable to the vehicle frame or to the fenders. In any case, to mount a specialty rack, original equipment rack must normally be removed and the new specialty rack installed, thereby increasing cost.
In some cases, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,943, it has been shown that a molded horizontal carrier surface having numerous slots therein is desirable over the more common tubular racks. Such racks certainly provide a more versatile means for securing objects to the rack. However, such molded racks are still mounted directly to the vehicle. There is no indication that such molded racks are designed to be mounted to an existing carrier rack.
It is becoming customary to provide removable custom made accessory extension racks that adapt readily to existing ATV carrier racks, thereby providing versatility and reducing cost. Adaptation of such accessory racks to the numerous styles of existing racks is a major problem requiring a wide range of predrilled holes, brackets, straps, and fasteners. In many cases custom-made adapter flanges are necessary. Therefore, there is a need for a more versatile mounting arrangement for adapting accessory type extender racks to ATV conventional bar racks.
Described herein is an accessory-type carrier rack extension adapted for attachment to existing tubular racks generally provided on all terrain vehicles. The rack is provided in a variety of models to mate with and compliment existing tubular carrier racks and is provided with flattened expanded metal panels that may be slotted at assembly to fit any protrusions on the existing carrier rack that may exist but are unaccounted for by the manufacturer. The accessory carrier rack includes a tubular base frame fabricated from bent tubular members and various truss members. Some of the truss members are positioned parallel to the bent tubular members and/or parallel to adjacent truss members in a manner that defines elongated slots for adjustable positioning of the rack relative to an existing carrier rack. The slots are used for passing a retaining bolt through to engage a xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d shaped collar to be fitted over the tubular bars of an existing carrier at strategic points. This arrangement allows the accessory carrier to be produced in large numbers for easy adaptation to a wide variety of existing bar racks with fewer custom-made adapter brackets.